"You're trying to buy me off?" Charlie says with disbelief.
"My daughter is a married woman and she belongs with her husband."
"She belongs with whoever can make her happy and that is me."
"A million dollars," he says, getting his chequebook out again. "One million dollars to get out of Josephine's life."
Charlie shakes her head at him. "All the money in the world couldn't keep me away from Joey."
"Look Buckton," he starts with a hint of anger in his tone.
"That's Sergeant Buckton," snaps Charlie. She really couldn't believe she was even having this conversation.
"For the moment, Acting Sergeant," his threat clear with the way he accentuated the Acting. Charlie narrows her eyes at him, fuming at the gall of the man. "One call to some friends on the Force is all it will take, so I'm going to make this easy for you."
"No, here is what we're going to do," she says in her most authoritative voice. She was pleased to see the surprise on his face. "You're going to forget your threats and I won't charge you with trying to bribe and threaten a police officer."
"That's not what I was doing."
"You offered me money, then you made threats that implied if I didn't accept your demands, you'd call some buddies and wreck my chances of promotion."
"You've clearly misunderstood this entire conversation, Sergeant."
"I've misunderstood nothing." She holds the cheque up in front of him and tears it up into little pieces before sprinkling it at his feet. "I love Joey, she loves me and now that we're together, no one is going to tear us apart." She turns her back on him and storms away.
He watched her leave. It may have been a misjudgement on his part to offer the money, but he was desperate. After one too many risky deals, he now needed the merger with the Rosetta's to go through or he could lose the lot and he wasn't going to let some silly little love affair stand in his way. He did feel a little bad that his daughter would have to give up a woman she obviously cared for, but then so had her mother and he himself, had sacrificed things for their family and he saw no reason why his daughter shouldn't make the same sacrifices they had been so willing to make.
Joey sat back in the water, enjoying the tickling sensation of the bubbles against her skin. She usually wasn't one to have a bath during the day, but she was told to relax and relaxing she was. She blew some of the bubble bath into the air. As much as she enjoyed relaxing, doing nothing was getting boring rather quickly and she hoped her symptoms would disappear within the week.
A big smile came to her face as her mind brought up, with full sound and picture, the perfect cure to her boredom; hot sex with her gorgeous girlfriend. She closes her eyes. She may have to hold off on the physical side of things for the moment, but there was no reason why her mind couldn't have a little fun.
Charlie walks into the station and heads straight to her office, still fuming from her encounter with Joey's dad. She threw her keys into the desk drawer and slams it shut.
"What did the drawer ever do to you?" her cousin asks from the doorway.
"It was just there."
Georgie closes the door behind her and walks over to Charlie's side of the desk and props herself on the edge. "Want to tell Georgie what's got poor little sarge all fired up?"
"I just had a run in with Joey's dad and now I'm not sure whether I should tell her or not."
"Why wouldn't you tell her?"
"Because of what happened."
Georgie listens intently as Charlie starts to fil; her in.
"What should I do Georgie?" Charlie asks once she'd finished telling her cousin everything. "Joey is supposed to avoid stress, so do I tell her and risk her collapsing again or do I keep this to myself and feel rotten about that."
"Chances are, her father is going to keep trying to tear you apart, so I think the best thing is to be up front about everything so there's nothing that can come back to hurt you later on," Georgie says.
"I just don't want her stressed out at all."
"Her father tried to bribe you Charlie, that's pretty bloody serious and Joey needs to know just how far her father is willing to go."
"He pretended to be dying, I think that says how far he's willing to go."
"And he's still willing to go further. Tell her Charlie and just be there for her to help her through this."
Charlie sighs and leans back in her chair, staring at the ceiling. "I knew this wasn't going to be easy, but I didn't see this coming."
"Speaking from personal experience, in-laws can be a pain in the arse."
"Roo didn't try to buy you off though."
"No, but if she had the money, I'm sure she would have tried to. Roo has always made it clear to me that I'm not good enough for her daughter, that she doesn't really approve of Martha being gay and being with me and it does make things hard at times, especially when Martha is caught in the middle, but at least Martha knows where she stands with her mother and doesn't let her dislike and disapproval of me come between us. Charlie, all I'm trying to say is, that Joey's father may never approve of you, so you're going to have to deal with it and you're also going to have to be honest and up front with Joey about everything he says and does to you. Don't let him undermine you and cause problems between you and Joey by keeping things from her and you certainly don't want to give him the chance to twist your silence to his own advantage and then using it against you."
Charlie nods. "Maybe I should go and talk to Joey now."
"You can't. Aden just called to say they're on their way back to the station and Robertson wants a meeting with you."
"Fuck, could this day get any worse," Charlie mutters.
Angelo was furious that he hadn't been told Joey had been taken to the hospital the previous day, even more furious he had only found out after overhearing those gossips in the diner talking about it. At least Joey's dad had been able to fill him in on what had happened, along with a few other things. As much as he respected Mr Collins, he hadn't appreciated the way he had spoken to him though, like he was some recalcitrant child to be told to keep his mistress out of sight if he insisted on keeping her around and that he had to fight harder to get Joey back. He didn't need to be told to fight harder, because he loved Joey and had no intention of losing her to that bitch, especially now that it looked like she would get his job on a more permanent basis. His union rep had called back, letting him know that regardless of the outcome of his assault charge, he was to be stripped of his command. Angelo wanted him to argue for his reinstatement, until his rep pointed out that his treatment of other officers had provided the higher ups with more than enough evidence to suggest he wasn't command material, so he was advised to pull his head in and just concentrate on keeping his job and then some time further down the road when this had all blown over, he could start to work his way back up the ranks again. He wasn't sure if that was what he wanted any more though.
He hadn't been made aware of all the details of the deal his parents had with Joey's dad until after the wedding and while he was more than happy to get Joey pregnant, as that was something he wanted for himself, he hadn't been too keen on the idea of leaving the Force for the family business, but now that his career in the Force was well and truly stalled, if not over, he was starting to warm to the idea of tossing it in and going into the family business with the hope of one day taking it over. Once both family companies merged, they would become one of the strongest in the county and being the head of such a company did hold some appeal for him, especially when he imagined grooming his and Joey's son in to taking over. He grins, liking the idea more and more, especially the image of their son sitting at the head of such a powerful company as a testament to their love and devotion to family.
As for Bianca, well for the moment, he needed her. She was happy to supply his needs, both with sex and drugs and he couldn't risk her interfering by releasing those photos, so he'd keep her around, but out of sight. If he planned to win Joey back, he couldn't flaunt his affair so openly.
How did he get his wife back though? She was pissed about learning her father was faking things and actually seemed to like that dyke, not that he could really blame her; with looks like that, Buckton was one extremely fuckable woman and even he had fantasised on more than one occasion of having her on his desk, begging for more. Buckton was a woman though, so surely she wouldn't be able to satisfy Joey like he was able to, he reasoned. He just needed a way for Joey to see that he had no part in her father's deception and that he was her great love while Buckton was nothing but a poor substitute. He grabbed his jacket and ran out the door.
Joey had finished her bath and was now in the lounge playing a relaxing game of golf when there was a knock on the door. "Bugger," she mutters at the interruption as she sliced the ball. Pausing the game, she tightens the belt on her robe and goes and opens the door, her eyes widening in shock.
Still to come: The cousin's fragile relationship is shattered, a long kept secret is revealed, the arsonist is stopped, a life hangs in the balance after a car accident, someone is pregnant and someone is murdered.